|
|
|
Regulations on movement between professions of barrister and solicitor
|
| |
217. (1) Notwithstanding any other enactment, the Authority may by regulation provide that—
|
|
| |
(a) a barrister seeking to be admitted as a solicitor, or
|
|
| |
(b) a solicitor seeking to become a barrister,
|
|
| |
be exempted from an admission requirement specified in the regulation, where the Authority is of the opinion that that admission requirement is, in the case of that barrister or solicitor, unnecessary.
|
|
| |
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under that subsection may provide that a legal practitioner referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection be exempted from an admission requirement that he or she—
|
|
| |
(a) attend at a course of education or training,
|
|
| |
(b) sit and pass an examination, or
|
|
| |
(c) serve a period of apprenticeship or pupillage, or a portion of such period.
|
|
| |
(3) Regulations under subsection (1) may provide different exemptions in relation to different legal practitioners or classes of legal practitioner.
|
|
| |
(4) For the purpose of this section, an admission requirement, in the case of a legal practitioner referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1), is unnecessary where—
|
|
| |
(a) the admission requirement is in place for the purpose of ensuring that a person seeking to be admitted as a solicitor or to become a barrister, as the case may be, is in possession of particular knowledge, skill or experience, and
|
|
| |
(b) the legal practitioner concerned is already in possession of that knowledge, skill or experience by virtue of—
|
|
| |
(i) the educational qualifications and training that have previously been obtained by him or her, including those obtained in order for him or her to have become a barrister or to have been admitted as a solicitor, as the case may be, and
|
|
| |
(ii) the experience in the provision of legal services obtained by him or her as a practising barrister or a practising solicitor, as the case may be.
|
|
| |
(5) Before making regulations under subsection (1), the Authority shall consult with—
|
|
| |
(a) the Law Society,
|
|
| |
(b) the Bar Council,
|
|
| |
(c) the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, and
|
|
| |
(d) such other body or institution concerned with the provision of legal education which in the opinion of the Authority should be consulted.
|
|
| |
(6) The following shall ensure that the admission requirements concerned are consistent with regulations made under this section:
|
|
| |
(a) the Honorable Society of King’s Inns and the Bar Council, in relation to the admission requirements relating to the barristers’ profession;
|
|
| |
(b) the Law Society, in relation to the admission requirements relating to the solicitors’ profession;
|
|
| |
(c) such other body, being empowered to establish admission requirements relating to the barristers’ profession or the solicitors’ profession, as the Minister may specify by regulation.
|
|
| |
(7) In this section—
|
|
| |
“admission requirements”—
|
|
| |
(a) in relation to the solicitors’ profession, means the requirements (including those relating to education and training) that a person is required to fulfil before he or she can be admitted as a solicitor, and
|
|
| |
(b) in relation to the barristers’ profession, means the requirements (including those relating to education and training) that a person is required to fulfil before he or she becomes entitled to practise as a barrister,
|
|
| |
and, for the purpose of this definition, also includes any requirement under a Professional Code that a person undertake any training or serve a period of apprenticeship or pupillage following his or her admission as a solicitor or becoming a barrister, as the case may be.
|
